Friday, February 12, 2010

Information Technology Investment Region in Andhra Pradesh

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh, which is already a leading state in Information Technology and Information Technology-Enabled Services sectors, will develop an Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) over 50,000 acres of land around Hyderabad.
The massive 25-year plan is aimed at attracting an investment of Rs 2.19 lakh crore in the IT\ITES sectors and create direct employment for 15 lakh youths.
Besides, it also holds promise for an indirect employment for 53 lakh persons.
State Chief Minister K Rosaiah recently approved the ITIR plan and it has been sent to the Government of India for sanctioning. AP will be the first state in the country to have an ITIR.
The ITIR would come up around Gachibowli, Mamidipalli and Maheshwaram areas in an extent of 50,000 acres spread over 200 sq km.
“The ITIR will enable us to step up our IT exports to Rs 2.35 lakh crore in the next 25 years,” according to the state IT Minister.
The state government would also like to develop a similar ITIR at Visakhapatnam. “We will plan it after the Hyderabad ITIR gets sanctioned by the Center,” the minister said.
There was some setback to the state government efforts to develop IT industry in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and cities like Warangal and Tirupati because of the global recession. “The recession has blocked some companies from coming to the state to set up shop here. But now things are looking up and we will go ahead with our plans,” he added.
“We already have many major IT companies with their Indian headquarters in Hyderabad. The US-based United Health Group has also started its Indian headquarters in Hyderabad recently,” the minister pointed out.
The state will also have a new Information Technology Policy in place. The existing policy, which came into force in 2005, would end in March 2010.

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